Jannik Sinner once again beat Novak Djokovic on a tennis court, this time in the semi-final of the 2024 Six Kings Slam.
After recently meeting in the 2024 Shanghai Masters final, both players made their way to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to compete at the Six Kings Slam, an exhibition event during the Riyadh Season.
Only six players were invited to the tournament, which allowed the organizers to be creative with the draw at the event. Of the six players participating, two were already seeded in the semi-finals, while four had to play in quarter-final matches.
The two seeded players were obviously two sports legends who have signed up for the Six Kings Slam: Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. Four players fighting for two other semi-final spots were Sinner, Daniil Medvedev, Holger Rune, and Carlos Alcaraz.
Sinner won his quarter-final match against Medvedev to set up a semi-final meeting with Djokovic, while Alcaraz outplayed Rune to set up a clash with his idol Nadal.
Sinner beat Djokovic the last time they played, which was at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Shanghai, and he proved it was no fluke in their semi-final match at the Six Kings Slam.
Early in the match, Sinner showed that he had already played on the court at The Venue, breaking his opponent’s serve in the second game to lead 2-0.
Both players then showed that despite not being the tallest on the ATP Tour, they have mastered their serve. They both held their serve to love (0) in four consecutive games, after which the scoreboard showed 4-2 for the Italian player.
Sinner then found himself in a challenging situation, as the Italian player was down 0-30 on his serve in the seventh game, but after that, he was able to win eight of the following nine points to win the first set 6-2.
However, the World No. 1 player completely missed the start of the second set. Djokovic broke his serve for the first time in three matches, and this time, it was the 37-year-old player who led 2-0 after two games played.
But Sinner won eight points in a row to make it 2-2 and later held his serve to lead 3-2 in the second set of the match. Still, it wasn’t a smooth cruise for the 23-year-old player, as he was often seen grimacing in between the points, likely struggling with some kind of discomfort.
However, that didn’t prevent him from being better than his opponent. He led 5-4 when Djokovic had to serve to stay in the match. He fell behind 0-15, and a funny moment followed.
A napkin fell out of the 24-time Grand Slam champion’s pocket during the rally, as the umpire Carlos Ramos called a let, and players replayed the rally.
Djokovic managed to remain composed during that game, holding his serve to stay in the match. He didn’t just stay in the match, but took the second set into a tie-break, which he completely dominated, winning it 7-0 to force the decider.
Funnily, both players needed medical help in between the second and third sets. While Djokovic was having problems with his right shoulder, Sinner’s team seemingly wanted to relieve his physical issues, which didn’t necessarily seem to be an injury, like Djokovic’s.
At the start of the third set, Djokovic seemed to be having issues with his shoulder, especially when he was serving. His motion was disrupted, and he was seen touching the shoulder repeatedly during that game.
During the third set, the Serbian player still had to have his shoulder issue addressed during the changeovers, but he kept fighting. Djokovic even had two break points to go up 4-2, but he couldn’t use those chances.
That immediately came to bite him, as his opponent broke in the following game. With some inspired play, the Serbian legend was able to break back, but he still didn’t have enough to beat the World No. 1.
Sinner was just too good, and he was able to win the match in three sets, 6-2, 6-7(0), 6-4, to reach the final at the 2024 Six Kings Slam, awaiting the winner of the match between Alcaraz and Nadal.
